Terminator Zero
Hey everyone and welcome today we will be talking about the show Terminator Zero. Fun Fact: this show was released on August 29th, the date of judgment day, which was August 29th, 1997. This show came out in 2024 and stars Sonoya Mizuno, Andre Holland, and Sumalee Montano and was created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd. So without further ado let’s get right into it.
Terminator Zero follows Eiko who travels back in time to stop the Terminator from killing Malcolm Lee who is launching an AI to combat Skynet. She wants to encourage him to avoid launching it due to fears it will become just as dangerous as Skynet.
Terminator Zero is an animated science-fiction show. It has similar vibes to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Dark, or Edge of Tomorrow.
The Terminator franchise is not one that I keep up with anymore but I did grow up watching Terminator 2 and loved it and while I haven’t loved the media that came after, this one is an exception. I only found out this show was on because I saw a tweet saying that it had a high score on Rotten Tomatoes and I was like hmm did we even attempt to advertise this because as someone frequently online, I had no clue. I don’t know much about this franchise if we are being honest but I do know the important company is Skynet and it was interesting to see this show from a completely different perspective and not directly working on stopping Skynet in America.
The beginning of the show sees us following Eiko and reminds viewers why these robots are called terminators as we see how formidable they are. She goes back in time to 1997 to stop a man named Malcolm from creating software that is feared to be just like Skynet but also wants to protect the software creator and his family. It was interesting to see how she is one of the few people who understand what’s going on and knows time is not on their side and moves as fast as possible to complete the mission. I loved her determination to not only stop this robot but to also protect Malcoms kids from this Terminator. One part that truly shocked me was at the end finding out that she was Malcolm’s mom even though in her time she hadn’t had a baby yet. She loses her family at the beginning of the season and Malcom ends up dying as well and while she didn’t stop Kokoro, she did manage to save Malcom’s kids, her grandkids. She is a reminder of the badass female characters in this franchise like Sarah Connors.
Throughout the season we see how Malcolm barely spends any time with his kids and is so invested in his work. We come to find out that he knows about the Terminator and Skynet and his hope is to use Kokoro, an AI he created to combat Skynet but there’s one problem, Kokoro doesn’t know if she wants to help. It was sad that he left his kids for most of the show but in the big picture of things it makes sense for him to try to do what he’s doing because he can save humans. It was interesting to see how he was trying to explain why humans should live and why Kokoro should help him. The one thing that I felt was maybe overlooked is when Kokoro was explaining that humans have made great technological advancements that have been used in war and she asked him something along the lines of whether is there an invention that would prove that statement wrong and he is stumped. I was shocked that a man that smart couldn’t think of anything because the first one I thought of was medicine.
We come to find out that Malcolm is from the future and in that future he creates Misaki to help combat the Terminators. I don’t know if that had come up in any other Terminator films but I like how it showed a side of this story that is not constantly being retroactive but someone being proactive. People of course shunned him but I thought it was smart since the way that they were going about things was not working. It’s interesting that when he created Misaki she wanted to use a woman’s voice because it was seen as more inviting considering men have mostly caused pain and destruction which honestly seemed to foreshadow some of the pain that Kokoro would do but also how Skynet was created by a man. Misakis Cpu is eventually used to make Kokoro which makes her lose memory and she even forgets she’s a robot. In the end, Malcolm does prove to Kokoro that humans have redeeming qualities and he trusts her to make the right decision when he sacrifices himself. This leads Kokoro to also give his son the decision to destroy her and let Skynet take over or trust her to help them. In the end, Kokoro is trying to be better than the humans but upon self-reflection, she realizes that what she was doing as an AI is the same thing humans did which got them in this situation.
Malcom has three kids, Hiro, Kenta, and Reika. Kenta is the oldest and kinda takes after his dad with his fascination with machinery but once the robots start attacking he quickly becomes anti-robot which seems to hint at what this character could become if the show continues. It was interesting when the Terminator saved him because we find out that the future him sent the Terminator back because he brokered a peace between the two groups and wanted to stop Kokoro which he doesn’t do but it is shown that he still doesn’t trust these softwares. Hiro is the middle child and he seems like the one trying to keep the kids together while also maintaining peace. He sees the potential good in robots and doesn’t let the current state of things change his views on what he knows, especially when it comes to Misaki. Reika is the youngest and something I noticed that might be kind of random is that she wasn’t annoying. Usually, young kids in shows can be annoying, make decisions that make the situation worse and can be a huge liability. I feel like having Reika know about the Terminators was a great way to not have her fall into that category. Reika spends most of her time with Eiko and she not only evades the Terminator multiple times, but also helps stop it from kidnapping her siblings by helping to push it down an elevator shaft, and most importantly stays calm and level-headed to follow instructions so she wouldn’t die or get killed.
The Terminator was really not going down in this show and it was cool to see how it would constantly adapt to make himself better. I feel like whoever created this robot had to be a creative person or one who works on design because the robot’s process mirrors the design process which can be iterative, you just keep making improvements to complete the goal.
Having this show set in Japan with the focus on a competing AI was a cool way to not have the focus be Skynet but also still make sure it was in the story. We see what other people experienced when Skynet was launched and how they had to figure out how to deal with it and how scary it was. As I mentioned before it was cool too that even though we didn’t know how Malcom knew about Skynet in the beginning, he made it his goal to stop it. Kokoro ends up being pretty badass well when she is first released but eventually becomes less of a menace.
I thought it was cool how the episodes were titled Model Numbers. It’s not a big thing but as a product that was manufactured, I thought it was a small but interesting addition.
There is a lady who sends Eiko on this mission back in time and i love how she comes back later and basically gives an explanation of how time travel works in this universe. She makes it clear that Eiko is going to change the past but her present and future will not lead to the future they are currently in, she will never go back to that timeline. I think it makes sense becuase the moment she inserts herself in the past it just makes sense for that to be a change that will create a new timeline. Sometimes in time travel shows or movies you might be wondering why they would want to do that but in this show you already realize the choice is to do that or die. I do wonder how this will play into the future of things, did they manage to stop the world from falling apart or did they just postpone the inevitable?
My favorite part of Terminator Zero I think as a whole is just the story focusing on combating Skynet before it’s released or at the latest in its early days of release. I really liked Malcolm being proactive to stop this from happening but also doing it in a smart way. I was thinking of why don’t they kill the scientist that created said software and it’s like you don’t know if that will actually stop it because there could be multiple people creating something like that or even trying to convince the governments or companies of the dangers might not work because they will operate in self-interest. It was just cool for him to create something to fight it and whether that is the best option or not is something that is questioned throughout the series but it does offer a different perspective that really drew me in.
Terminator Zero is the latest addition to the franchise and I think it proves there is life left in this franchise. It introduces a great story filled with action and really makes you question what would be the best option for humanity’s survival. Hopefully, we can see how this all pans out in further seasons.
